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“Why?”
“I’m not going to grade your tests and bring you coffee—”
“I have three TAs.” He looks pointedly at my full mug. “And I’m happy to take care ofyourcoffee... You don’t even like coffee, do you?”
I squirm in the stool. “I...”
“Oh, Elsie.” He shakes his head in mock disappointment and takes away the mug. “I thought you were above sparing my feelings.”
“You were really nice to me last night, and...” I clear my throat. “Anyway, I can’t work for you.”
“Why?”
“Because you areJonathan Smith-Turnerand almost destroyed my entire field.”And Dr. L. would kill me, I don’t add, but I still feel a stab of guilt for being about to literally break bread with my mentor’s archenemy.
“Okay.” He shrugs, setting a glass of water and toast in front of me. “Disappointing. But it does give me free rein to ask something else.”
“Ask what?”
“Can I take you out?”
The words don’t immediately compute. For several seconds they float in my brain like driftwood, aimless, unparsable, and then their meaning dawns on me. “You mean you want to... murder me.”
He winces. “Once again, what happened to you?”
“You asked totake me out—”
“For a date.”
“Oh.” I blush. “Oh.” I scratch the side of my nose. “Um...”
Jack’s eyebrow lifts. “You seem more alarmed by dinner than murder.”
“No. Yeah. I mean, it’s just... Why?”
“You know, I’m growing concerned about your language comprehension skills.” The corner of his mouth is quirking up, and I cannot take this anymore.
“Stop it,” I order.
“Stop what?”
“Beingamusedby me! I don’t understand why you’d want to... We’ve done nothing but butt heads since the day we met.” I cover my eyes with both hands. “Why are you suddenly being so nice? Giving me shelter, offering me a job? I just... Is this some fetish of yours? Some people get off on armpit sex, you enjoy messing with me and—”
“Look at me, Elsie.” His voice snaps me to attention. Jack has moved around the island and is leaning against it, next to me. The back of his finger taps gently against my hand, grounding me. A silentShut up, will you. “You done spiraling?”
“I’mnotspiraling,” I lie. “Jack, believe me. You don’t want to spend time with me.”
He nods, thoughtful. “What else don’t I want?”
“I’m serious. For one, I’m technically still fake-girlfriending your brother.”
“Didn’t know it worked as a verb. Cute.”
“And you hate the personality-switching thing.”
“That won’t be a problem.” His eyes gleam. “Since I also enjoy calling you on your bullshit.”
My cheeks heat. “We havenothingin common. What would we even talk about?”
